Senate Let's Talk: Feminism

Why does Hollywood keep defending Roman Polanski?!

 

I wrote an article about this back in 2009, blasting many men and women whom I once respected for going out of their way to excuse this man’s crime and, in some cases, arguing that there was no crime at all. (I have no idea if this article is still online or not.)

And I find it so wonderfully hypocritical that many of the same liberal celebrities who will sign petitions making excuses for him will then go on to lecture us plebs about “rape culture”. Hey! ***holes! You’re perpetuating rape culture whenever you make excuses for this guy!

 

I saw that, too. It's weird to see how tardy the world is regarding this issue. Even with knowledge of issues going on in different cultures, I suppose that people lose patience with moderate and conservative opponents because we age and we don't understand how people could change their minds. New Zealand and Australia surprised me when I saw this, given how I assumed they would be more up to speed.

The argument that it's only necessary for the health/life of the mother and for cases of rape and incest falls short. That discounts other times when it is necessary, and every individual woman knows when it is necessary. That's why it's called pro-choice. It's about an individual choice. As was previously stated, it's not a matter of morality. I suppose that's why it's frustrating. People like to project moralisms on to abortion restrictive arguments, and that waters down progress. We should just view it as a private, health-related decision. Anyhow, thanks for sharing this to keep us up to date on this, Ghost.

I suppose the issue at hand is a matter of education. I once was against abortion, but the more I read during the eighth and ninth grade, the more I realized that it should be a universal human right outside the limits of judgment and religious b.s. Of course, it helped that a secular-minded man in his seventies told me he felt that all women had the right to choose that option if they felt it necessary. But that's beside the point.

 

The video with that article just kind of says it all when they get to the "run like a girl" bit for girls under ten and at one point they just hard cut to this tiny little girl in a pink princess dress just thundering across the screen like a total boss. Reminds me of that girl marching in on her dad while he's doing a report on North Korea for the BBC or whatever. Badass.

 

Help. I need a basic feminism tutorial for an unexpected demographic: trans people, especially trans men. I sometimes post on another site that is especially for trans people, and there's this mind-boggling thread where a bunch of trans guys are insisting that male privilege doesn't exist and that actually men get the most raw deal. They are not seeming to get that:

* Just because there are some disadvantages to being male doesn't mean that bias against women doesn't exist.
* Sexism is a systemic thing, inherited over millennia. It did not roll over and die in the 1970's, or the 1990's, or ever.
* The fact that they have some female friends who defy feminine conventions with apparent impunity doesn't change the reality that most women live by those conventions, and suffer from them. (And suffer more if they defy them.)
* Saying that sexism exists is not the same thing as saying that all men everywhere, at all times, are terrible people.
* Some other **** I'm sure I'm missing.

How do you explain things that are this basic to someone who doesn't get them? Especially if that someone A) was socialized female, and B ) has had the opportunity to compare life as a woman vs. life as a man?

 

US Department of HHS now plans to define life beginning at conception! Yay!

https://theslot.jezebel.com/life-begins-at-conception-according-to-draft-of-hhs-st-1819317131

 

Department of Health and Technically-Human-at-the-Genetic-Level Services

 

Utter bollocks.

 

"Some of them claim, with no scientific backing, that birth control involves fertilized eggs being expelled from the uterus and is therefore abortion. Others just believe that it’s immoral for a woman to have sex without accepting the possibility of pregnancy."

Others may simply believe that taking responsibility for

or paying for anything to do with your sex life

is up to you.

 

And there are more uses for birth control these days than simply preventing pregnancy.

Indiana church denies First Communion to a girl who wanted to wear a suit instead of a dress.

FU Indiana

 

The school's reasoning behind banning the girl's suit:

There's a dress code so there can be a dress code. That certainly clears things up.

 

Presumably lots of women in the church during First Communion were wearing pants and a shirt... But the girl isn't allowed to..?

 

It probably has to do with the fact it looked like a boy's suit than a Hilary pantsuit, and this church suddenly went "oh no, a girl wanting to dress like a boy! We can't have that!" UGH!

 

poor yorick I read something recently that I thought was pretty useful. It was this scene in Anna Karenina in which there is this political debate going on at one end of the table. On the other end though, there is a couple discussing how futile the debate is, because as they say, "No one ever convinces anyone."

But the characters theorize why the debate is happening at all, and why no one ever change their minds. The solution they come up is that each debater has something they care about in mind. Something feel the need to protect. And the debate may be related to that idea and so the actual subject material being debated doesn't matter, they're always going to be protecting something.

For example, I love the prequels, but if some guy tries to tell me the CGI is horrible, I'll disagree with everything he says, even if it's factually based, because I'm trying to protect the prequels.

Anyway, you don't have to listen to me, I just thought it was an excellent explanation for the futility of an argument. Maybe try finding what these trans men really care about. Maybe it has little to do with sexism and more to do with their fear of being judged for something new.

 

Why suicide is high among under 35s and why male anorexia is under represented in statistics. "Boys don't cry" is why we're having a significant mental health crisis among adolescent men in the Western world.

Tragically, as well, male domestic violence victims are highly unlikely to go the police or even speak out; the ridicule of not being tough and "being beaten up by a girl" is hurtful and prolongs the silence.

 

Thanks anakinfan and DANNAS. Apparently toxic masculinity, with all its disdain for women and femininity, is a thing among some trans guys. I spoke with my friend Dan about what he calls "***** trans guys" and he gave me a rather impassioned appeal to reach out to them if I could. He says that he used to be a ****** trans guy, and that they act that way because they're angry about not getting their needs met. Much of the trans community is geared toward trans women, and rightly so, since they suffer the most discrimination and have the hardest transition. Apparently some guys feel left out by the community and jealous of and resentful toward the women, so they lash out. I'll be in contact with Dan about how better to help men like this. He says that once guys start feeling understood and supported, they're more open to being told not to treat other people like crap.

 

The concept of benevolent transphobia typically spreads fear toward trans women. Trans men are treated like they are women, which is both prejudiced due to its inaccuracy, and absurd, given how trans women are often treated like dirt.

It's akin to the notion of benevolent racism. So disgusting.

But trans men do have a far more difficult transition. I've met a couple who took five years to complete the entire thing. The healthcare system is bats and dumb as heck in many of the States. They treat trans people like we're science experiments or something. But you are so right. Trans men are often left out, and they need to have a voice. Also, I'd generally say that those who identify as genderqueer, intersex, etc. need more of a voice. We aren't just trans men and women. As with everything human, there's always a spectrum. Same for asexual and demisexual people.

 

Interesting perspective.

I just think California did the right thing. Some regard gender has a silly thing. We should be able to legally change our gender (without a surgery) in more places than eighteen U.S. states and in forty countries on this planet. Doesn't matter if people want to change it from male to female, female to male, or a third gender like non-binary, or whatever. While some biological things influence gender, those who do not feel influenced by that should not be forced into any gender role that they do not like.

I helped my friend get out of state, and she was able to change her gender to female in Oregon. Her goal was to get away from religious people (not Christian fundamentalists, but pagan ones) who persecuted her. Her parents had passed away, and no one could protect her but herself. Now, she's happy up there by Portland. She loves farm life. I think that's a good thing for many people. Nobody should go through all the hoops and requirements that I had to in Texas just do that. It's absurd. The third gender option is also supported by transfeminism and fourth-wave feminism in general.

 

It's sad how many people think things like, "You can get fired from your job for criticizing your boss, so why shouldn't you get arrested for criticizing the government?"

 

Alt-right women are unhappy with how alt-right men treat them terribly. Well, if you date a sociopath, what empathy will he have?
https://newsstand.google.com/articles/CAIiECB_-Zzsrqbhulz9tShbiTMqEwgEKgsIACoFCAowgGAwADCCrRE

 

AH HA HA HAHA HA HAAAAAA.

Who knew the alt-right was full of misogynists? WHO KNEW?

******* hilarious. I honestly thought women with the alt-right were totally down to be treated that way. I thought they were basically volunteering to be submissive little housewives. How could they join the alt-right and not be? The alt-right is very open about their views on women, it's right there, front and center, impossible to miss.

Idiots. Funniest thing I've read today. Thanks, SateleNovelist.

 

I saw it posted on my Facebook feed, and I was amused. We have an extremely misogynistic idiot as president who might as well be considered alt-right. What did they expect? A good man would not adhere to such empty-headed b.s.